The only rules you need to know for the perfect blow-dry

Checking Facebook is one

1.Switch your shower lineup
Want bouncy hair? Skip shampoos and conditioners that bill themselves as moisturising or damage-repairing—they contain ingredients that weigh down even thick hair. Go for volumising formulas, which are lighter. Try L’Oréal Professionnel Serie Expert Volumetry Conditioner. But if your hair is frizzy, use a smoothing shampoo and conditioner full of silicones and oils. We like TRESemmé Hair Spa Rejuvenation Nourish and Revive Conditioner.

2. Now leave the bathroom
It might seem like the obvious place to style your hair, but if it’s at all humid, your blowout will frizz. Move the whole shebang to another room.

3. Drink coffee, check Facebook.
Procrastinating before you start blow-drying can actually make your hair look better. “If you try to style soaking-wet hair, it will take forever, and you’ll probably give up before your hair is completely smooth,” says hairstylist Jen Atkin. Rough-dry your hair until it’s barely damp, or let it airdry for about 20 minutes.

4. Hold off on mousse.
For smooth results, apply mousse or gels (and anything with hold) to damp hair and then blow-dry immediately. Allowing them to sit in hair while it air-dries, for even 10 minutes can freeze kinks and waves in place so they can’t be undone with a brush and a dryer, says hairstylist Nathaniel Hawkins. Oils, leave-in conditioners and other anti-frizz products should be applied right away.

5. Tackle bangs first.
Attend to them before they have a chance to dry wonky. For side-swept bangs, use a medium-size round boar-bristle brush and sweep them to one side. If your bangs are blunt, start by brushing them from side to side with a paddle brush as you dry them so they’re polished but not too fl at, says hairstylist Matt Fugate.

6. Know when to use ions.
An ionic dryer flattens the cuticle, which is great if you want your hair to be straight and not puffy. If your aim is lots of volume, ditch the ionic dryer.

7. Don’t let a blowout deflate.
The difference between straight and lank is a two-to-three inch round boar-bristle brush. Use it to stretch your hair up slightly at the roots and then down toward your shoulders in a slight arc, pulling the brush straight through the ends. Move quickly to minimise damage.

8. Count to five for volume.
When you let hair cool for a few seconds on the round brush, it dries bouncier. Pull your hair up toward the ceiling, and then roll the brush down the length of your hair and back up. Keep each section of hair wound around the bristles for about four or five seconds after you’ve dried it.

9. Check your work.
Once you think your hair is dry, feel around for damp spots. If you want your blowout to last, hair needs to be 100 per cent dry. Otherwise it will frizz and volume won’t last, says Hawkins.

Before trying these blowouts, take a look at the 10 Heat protectant sprays.